Objectives:Distance from VAMCs can be a barrier to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening, with 42% of Veterans living >90 miles away. Fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) require only one sample and were recently approved for VA use. Our objective was to determine if FIT kits mailed to Veterans would result in higher screening rates in asymptomatic, average-risk Veterans than mailing educational materials alone.

Results:At six months follow-up, 28 control patients received CRC screening compared with 100 patients in the FIT intervention group (5.6% vs. 20%; p

Implications:This low-intensity intervention resulted in a significantly higher screening rate than controls, and for those eligible, almost 100% received screening. Of note, survey findings suggest almost one-third of VA users who appear to be overdue for screening are screened outside VA.

Impacts:Overall FIT return rate was low indicating that a mail-only program may have limited success. Future studies should use other methods to eliminate those already screened outside VA. Veterans overdue for screening appear to be open to taking FIT kits mailed to their homes.